This invention relates in general to electrical connector assemblies and deals more particularly with an improved connector assembly of insulation displacement type for connecting terminal end portions of a plurality of insulated electrical conductors. More specifically, the invention is concerned with an improved electrical connector assembly of a type wherein the insulated terminal end portions to be connected are supported to extend in the same general direction and are electrically connected to each other by a common electrically conductive threaded fastener which is disposed between the terminal end portions, extends in the same general direction as the terminal end portions, and displaces the insulation on the end portions to establish electrical contact with the electrical conductors therein.
A typical connector assembly of the general type with which the present invention is concerned is illustrated and described in U. S. Pat. No. 3,579,172 to Clark for SOLDERLESS CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY, issued May 18, 1971. The connector assembly disclosed in the Clark patent has a main body of dielectric insulation material which includes a central threaded well, receiving a threaded fastener, and a plurality of separate smooth walled conductor receiving bores which merge toward the axis of the central well and intersect the well near its inner end. While a connector assembly disclosed in the Clark patent enables electrical connection of a plurality of sheathed end portions of insulated conductors, without first stripping insulation from or otherwise preparing the conductor end portions, it does have serious shortcomings. The angular arrangement of the merging conductor receiving bores limit the amount contact which can be attained between the fastner and the conductor end portions received within the smooth walled bores. Only a relatively few thread convolutions can be utilized to displace the insulating sheaths on the conductor end portions to establish electrical contact with the conductors contained thereon. Further, the connector assembly shown in the Clark patent is difficult and expensive to manufacture. The merging arrangement of the conductor bores relative to the threaded central bore precludes manufacture using simple bi-parting molds. If a molding technique is employed, expensive special molding tools and/or extensive secondary operations will be required to produce the intersecting bores.
Accordingly; it is the general aim of the present invention is to provide an improved electrical conductor assembly of the aforedescribed general type particularly adopted for low cost manufacture and which provides a high degree of electrical contact integrity.